Wednesday, September 22, 2010

A.J. Green: Apparently he is that important to the offense¸ at least this year. We’ll find out for sure in a little more than a week.

Caleb King: He’s set to return this week, and not a moment too soon. The team missed his pass protection, and he figures to get a chance to see if he can get a few more yards than Washaun Ealey. Georgia ranks next-to-last in the SEC in rush offense, so it needs any sort of spark.

Kris Durham: Maybe he’s getting a lot of the routes and targets that Green would have. But Durham is showing that he belongs in the gameplan even when Green returns.

Must-win games: Keep in mind, no matter what happens Saturday, the subsequent few games will also be regarded as critical to the program. Colorado, Tennessee and Vanderbilt because Georgia will be favored. Kentucky because it will dictate the tone for the rest of the season. Florida for obvious reasons.

Akeem Dent: Very quietly, the senior linebacker is off to a good start. He’s second on the team with 20 tackles, and has a couple sacks. Pretty good, considering he had toe surgery two months ago.

Cornelius Washington: Remember when he lost his job to Darryl Gamble? In fact Washington has started all three games, though still sharing time with Gamble at the outside spot. Washington is second on the team with 11 solo tackles, and is getting a lot of pressure on the pocket.

Kwame Geathers: The freshman nose tackle played against Arkansas, after not doing so at South Carolina, and with Justin Anderson potentially out awhile with turf toe, Geathers’ time figures to only increase.

STOCK DOWN

Offensive line stability: After three down games, the tinkering is under way. Tanner Strickland and Chris Davis are in a competition at right guard. They could also get a push from Clint Boling, who shifts over when Trinton Sturdivant plays. Pass protection in general: The absence of King and fullback Shaun Chapas hurt against Arkansas. But when Mark Richt spread the blame everywhere, it didn’t sound like he was trying to cover up for anybody.

The secondary: Georgia ranks 10th in the SEC in pass defense, and last in third-down conversion defense. That tends to happen when you keep having coverage breakdowns. The youth is showing: Bacarri Rambo and Shawn Williams are sophomores, Jakar Hamilton is a junior college transfer, and while the cornerbacks are a bit more experienced, the nickel backs are sophomores and freshmen.

National analysis of Georgia: Never mind the Richt-on-the-hot-seat columns. I’ll get to that later. But now I’m seeing talk that Richt is “standing by his quarterback” despite some “growing pains.” (This was on USA Today site, but there have been similar mentions elsewhere.) Wait, what am I missing here? Murray, while not setting the world on fire, has not been one of the disappointments, given the expectations. He’s fourth in the SEC in passing, and sixth in total offense. And even if he was struggling, what are they supposed to do, turn to true freshman Hutson Mason? Murray’s been fine. So far, he ain’t the problem.

Bulldogs in primo time slots: The past two ESPN noon starts might be Georgia’s last nationwide exposure for awhile. The next two are on FOX cable stations. The following games, against Tennessee, Vanderbilt and Kentucky, are yet to be decided, but ESPN and CBS can’t be salivating about any of those matchups. Tennessee-Georgia could get picked up by ESPN just because of the history. But the bottom line is the Florida game is likely to be the first time this season Georgia has either of the top two slots (CBS or ESPN’s night game).

HOLDING STEADY

Blair Walsh: The one thing the Bulldogs thought they could take for granted this season, and so far still can.

Murray: See above rant.

The tight ends: Yes, they’re not making any catches. So why aren’t they stock down? Because the consensus remains that Orson Charles, Aron White and even Bruce Figgins still have the skill, they’re just not getting passes thrown their way. At some point that has to change, right?

Justin Houston: He went from a three-sack game to zero against Arkansas, but he did have some pressures. He remains a developing force – but the Bulldogs could use him to just be a force.

Mark Richt: The coach is either blissfully unaware of all those columns being written, or he’s blissfully ignoring them. As I wrote in today’s papers, it’s full-speed ahead, stay the course for Richt and his coaches. If they’re panicking or worrying, they’re doing so in private.

Mike Bobo’s playcalling duties: Richt said there would be no change the day after the Arkansas game. So despite the clamor of many fans, Bobo is still the guy.

3 comments:

I have an idea of for raising the Dawg's "national stock". Why not adopt the old FSU theory of playing anyone anywhere? I realize that McGarity has said he likes the GAYtor method of scheduling cupcakes. I also understand that the Dawgs are tied up with the game in Jax (which I am in favor of by the way). With that being said, schedule the home games for the GAy Tech away years. Dump the Louisville game and begin scheduling solid home-away games with legit non-conference schools (i.e. Penn State, ND, Texas). Yes, we will lose a few, but you begin to build equity into the program again, increase exposure for recruits, plus you game the national prime time slots again. An advantage for the Dawgs that FSU did not have is that they are not starting from square one. I realize many will argue that the Dawgs have too much money to lose with the loss of a home game. But the money will come on the back end with the return to national spotlight and BCS games. Just a tought

Thats already happened. Home-Home with Clemson in the next few years and then Oregon the couple of years after that. And I'm not a huge fan of big time non-conference games every year when you have the SEC slate and Tech built in. Every once in a while, ok, but not every year.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Seth Emerson has been covering the SEC and Georgia (on and off) since 2002. He worked at the Albany Herald from 2002-05, then spent five years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina. He returned to Athens in August of 2010, only to find that David Pollack and David Greene were no longer playing for the Bulldogs. Adjustments were made. Emerson is originally from Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Maryland in 1998 with a degree in journalism and a minor in getting lost on the way to practically everywhere. Then he spent four years at The Washington Post, covering small colleges, a couple NCAA basketball tournaments, and on one glorious day, was yelled at by Tony Kornheiser. It was probably at The Post that he also learned to write in the third person.These days he lives in Athens with his beloved and somewhat wimpy dog, Archie. Together they fight crime at night in northeast Georgia, except on nights there is no crime, in which case they sit at home, sip on white wine and watch reruns of "Mad Men."